Arjun Singh...

A Rare Tour of the CIA Museum

Tiger dropping motion detectors? Pigeon cameras? The CIA museum is usually only open to CIA employees. The CBS early show got a sneek peak.

New Kamloops Blog

Mike Maddison, Alisha Beday, and a lot of other interesting, good folks associated with Silver Servers have launched a new group blog called Picotalk.

This effort is based in Kamloops, but with contributors in other far flung places, and a broad range of topics.

I am excited about this.

Remembering I have Great Friends in Every Port

In my reference to my Dumb Ass post below, and the appreciated comment left by my friend. Leslie Smith. Leslie, you rock!

The Huge Impact of Outsourcing

On my last two trips to India, I have noticed a new optimism, almost a cockiness. The Internet has allowed India and its large fluent english speaking population access to a lot of different business opportunities. Software programming, call centres, medical transcription.

India's success is sometime percieved as a threat to Western economies. Outsourcing, or more to the point the percieved threat posed by outsourcing, now even merits mention by candidates in the US Presidential election.

I think this is not a threat to the west but actually a huge opportunity. A business opportunity, yes, but also an opportunity to truly chew over some of the interesting new opportunities and learn how to live in this world that is changing faster every day.

I certainly feel bad for the Canadian, US, and European tech workers who no longer have a job. We are way past the point, when any job could be considered secure for a lifetime. Those who realize this and jump in to the new world with both feet high and eyes open are those who will, ultimately, be successful.

PS..just to follow up on my last post....its now 5:48 at Denny's in Vancouver.

Dumb Ass In Denny's at 3:35am

Attending a BC Technology Industry Association CEO Forum on tech outsourcing in about 4 hours. Really wanted to go. Thats clear. Crazy amount of things to do. But, got in the car in Kamloops at 8:30 last night and drove. FORGOT THE BLOODY KEYS TO MY FAMILY APT IN VANCOUVER. Hence, its Denny's and its now 3:40am. Tank up on the coffee. After the breakie meeting, still have to drive back the 4 hours to home and my bed.

Racist Incident Reporting in Kamloops

Tina Hickey and Kim Agar Ewen are coordinating the implementation of a very important project in Kamloops. If you are a victim of racism or know of an incident, Kim and Tina can help.

You can report online at at the Diversity Kamloops web site. Or you can call 377 7206. If you are not in Kamloops, but in the region. call toll free 1 877 377 7206.

I went to an implementation meeting yesterday, with 10 or so different community agencies present. The atmosphere in the room was great - supportive and interested. I suggested the creation of an occasional email communication to keep everyone informed.

Kamloops enjoys a pretty solid reputation for being diversity friendly. We need to be vigilant to keep this. And, in a any community, there are still problems we need to address.

Wonderful job Tina and Kim!

Being painfully productive

Today hurts in a good way. I have sat at my desk today and plowed through quite a few different tasks. I am not really a desk person. Prefer to be moving about, different appointments, different people, stuff going around me.

It is certainly nice to have got a lot of things put away. Because, there is alway more coming.

Giving Good Presentations...

Today, I was asked to step in at the last minute to be the guest speaker at my Rotary meeting. I spoke today about wireless access to the Internet, voice recognition and handwriting recognition . I didn't have a lot of time to prepare and I don't think my presentation went too badly. Thinking about it now, about the strengths of my presentation, and about the things I should have done and did not do, and thinking back to my experience over the past 4 years here is my current checklist on giving good presentations:

- Make an outline and stick to it: list all the points and sub points. Cross out each point or put a check beside each point as you deal with them.

- Engage your audience by asking questions throughout the Presentation: keeps people involved, gives critical feedback on what is resonating. (easier too ask questions if group is not too large)

- Weave your useful and practical information into as interesting stories as possible: Strict data dumps are boooring. Tell personal and/or interesting anecdotes that make your info come alive.

- Make sure your equipment works and does not get in the way: test everything, if you have visuals: figure out where you will stand so you don't obstruct view of your visuals.

- If you are using power point (or similar program), definitely use appropriate animation: Don't overdo it, but for some reason, a little animation always seems to lead to a better overall presentation for me.

The Danger of Video Games

Scary photo taken from Chuck Currie's blog...

Want the scoop on Kerala?

A great post by Anita Bora on her blog with lots of information on travelling in Kerala, India...